The invention relates to a method for warning the driver of an impending hazardous situation due to accidental drifting into an opposing traffic lane.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Occasionally, the driver of a motor vehicle may be momentarily distracted and not observe the traffic, for example, when using a driver assistance system, such as a navigation system, installed in the motor vehicle, whereby he is looking at a screen and not at the road, or when he dials a radio station etc. It may then happen that the vehicle unintentionally drifts to one side and thereby moves in the direction of an adjacent opposing traffic lane. A critical situation may arise when an oncoming vehicle approaches in this opposing traffic lane.
Various driver assistance systems are installed in modern vehicles, which are based on environment sensors such as radar sensors, cameras, etc., for example, a tracking system such as an ACC system (ACC Adapted Cruise Control), a lane departure system such as a heading control system or an LDW system (LDW=Lane Departure Warning), or safety systems, such as a collision warning system (FCW system, FCW=Forward Collision Warning). These systems use the signals provided by the sensors installed in the vehicle. However, they always enable a reaction to a preceding vehicle, when the system is designed to detect in any way the relative position of the own vehicle to that of a preceding vehicle and to react accordingly. DE 10 2004 057 060 A1 discloses to detect an oncoming vehicle in the same lane and to warn the driver. In such a situation, however, the driver of the motor vehicle is usually paying attention, i.e. he himself does not initiate a potentially hazardous situation due to possible inattention.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to obviate prior art shortcomings and to provide an improved method, which warns the driver when he inadvertently drifts in the direction of oncoming traffic or into an opposing traffic lane.